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Irish Arts Review
The Landscape Paintings at FotaAuthor(s): Richard Wood and Richard WoodsSource: Irish Arts Review (1984-1987), Vol. 1, No. 4 (Winter, 1984), pp. 47-55Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20491688 .
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IRISH ARTS REVIEW
THE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS AT FOTA
*%*
View of Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow.
Richard Wood writes here about his unique collection
of Irish landscape painting which he has made available to the public
in the splendid setting of Fota House, Co. Cork.
F
ota House, the centrepiece of the
great ornamental estate which covers
Fota Island in Cork Harbour, now houses a collection of Irish landscape paintings from the 18 th and 19th cen turies hung in their natural setting, a
house rather than a gallery. The house
itself, a masterpiece of the celebrated architect Sir Richard Morrison, dating from the 1820s, has been fully and
authentically furnished with period curtains, wallpapers and carpets, and
handsome examples of Irish Georgian and Regency furniture.
Within this setting the landscape paintings have been hung in the
categories into which they fall: idealised,
topographical, and romantic, followed
by Victorian subject painting, and they are interspersed with some portraits.
They are introduced by a group of Flemish 17 th century works, and a land
scape painted in Italy by Richard Wilson, which represents the influence that Italy had on Irish painting. The art of both
Italy and the Low Countries was the
major influence on Irish landscape painting of the 18th and early 19th
centuries, although of course, Wilson was a contemporary of Ireland's earliest
landscapists. The foundation of the Dublin
Society's School for Drawing and Design in the 1740's encouraged the radical
change in the style of picture being produced in this Country. Until then
landscape painting had largely been concerned with map-like representations
of great houses and their grounds. Such views can be seen at Mount levers, Co.
Clare, and Stradbally Hall, Co. Laois, and the one of Carton, Co. Kildare, recently removed from there is familiar to many. While some are more sophisti
cated than others, mainly they are fasci
nating records of buildings now altered or gone, and of parks which have almost all been obliterated. Their simplicity and
naivety are delightful. One such picture hangs in the Ante
Room to the Fota Drawing-Room among the Flemish works, and forms
part of the background material against which the more developed pictures can
be viewed. It shows part of the Powers court Estate in Co. Wicklow, and its
simple composition, high perspective and precise detail testify to its origins,
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IRISH ARTS REVIEW
THE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS AT FOTA
Idealized landscape - Thomas Roberts (1748-1778).
the map-landscape. The elaborate frame
and subject-matter both suggest that Lord Powerscourt was proud of the way he looked after his property and wished to draw the attention of his visitors to it;
he was a good landowner and wanted
that to be known.
Quite different are the pictures in the
Drawing-Room which contains the ideal
ised landscapes. These seem to owe their
stylistic origin to the Dublin School, if the early Barretts still hanging in the
Royal Dublin Society are anything to go by. Quite naturally the masters of the
School looked to the most sophisticated and prestigious source to provide
models for their pupils. The collections of the country's leading families, which would have been available to those who were interested, were rich in Flemish
works, and this influence seems to have
been absorbed, but what could be better than the great Italian views of Poussin
and Claude? It was these, initially at
least, which provided the major inspira tion for the teachers and pupils of the
Dublin School.
Gone, however, are the mythological
figures, to be replaced by humbler folk
engaged in simple chores such as herding animals, washing clothes, or in common
pastimes such as hunting and bathing. This Flemish delight in the common
place contrasts with the splendours of
the landscapes portrayed, with sunsets -
the sun always hidden, waterfalls, exten
sive vistas, classical buildings and, only
very occasionally, an Irish abbey -
always in ruins, a round tower or, as in one
example here, a tower house. The actual
landscapes are often Italianate, the
Roman Campagna making an appear
anee on Irish canvasses complete with
cypress trees and stone pines, as in
Robert Carver's fine work at Fota. This was to demonstrate the patron's familiar
ity with the Classical world as, so often, did his house, Fota being a prime example. No matter that Carver had
never set foot in Italy- his Italian scenes looked authentic and were popular,
while his scene-painting at Drury Lane
commonly met with applause. Thomas Roberts, however, while
creating an ideal world, was inspired by the landscape of Ireland, which he knew and loved so well. His compositions however complicated they might be, are
effortlessly handled; every square inch of the canvas is painted with an exquisite touch. The fresh greeness, and above all,
the soft feathery leaves of Roberts' ash trees, gilded by the evening sun, are his
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IRISH ARTS REVIEW
THE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS AT FOTA
m (?if.
Cloughoughter, Co. Cavan? William Ashford (d.1824).
hallmarks and create a vision of An Irish Garden of Eden. One of Roberts'
greatest works of this sort is given pride of place in the Drawing-Room at Fota.
In the Library the pictures display a
very different vision. Here there is no
wistful yearning for an ideal, no display of aristocratic education; the pictures
look at the actual world, taking delight and interest in its grandeur, the curios
ities of the past, and the creations of the
present The great natural features of the Irish coast, the Wicklow mountains, and the Lakes of Killarney are recorded faith
fully and in exact detail, the scenes
enlivened by people and animals as
cunningly as in a Canaletto.
Two views of Coolmore, a once hand
some house near Carrigaline, County
Cork, built in 1788 for the Newenham
family, display the pride and self
confidence of this period. The house
appears in a pool of light as the principal feature in an extensive park which has been laid out around it, the young trees
flourishing. Nature has been tamed by the hand of man, and the scene shows a
haven of civilization and good taste. This contrasts with the surrounding wild hills and the rude, craggy ruins of Carrigaline
Castle seen in the distance, here merely an interesting reminder of the violence
and gloom of the medieval past A deeper interest in this past is
apparent in William Ashford's great
painting of Cloghoughter Castle, which stands on an island in Upper Lough Erne, Co. Cavan. Ashford is one of many
Englishmen who came to Ireland, fell in love with the country, as his magnificent Irish views amply demonstrate, and
stayed. In his Cloghoughter picture
Ashford painted a detailed view of the
imposing ruin by the island's shore, and
charmingly included a small party which has just arrived in two boats; they look around with evident interest and delight,
while their footmen bring ashore the
picnic hampers. This painting expresses so clearly the age of enlightenment, the
age of reason in Ireland.
In the Dining-Room among the
portraits, can be seen the next group of
landscapes, and these display a reaction
to those in the Library. Self-confidence seems to have faltered, man is no longer
in charge; the scenes are wild and un
tameable, the land is uncultivated, and
buildings either do not exist, or are being invaded and ruined, as in Mulcahy's classical capriccio, where civilization
appears as a vision viewed indistinctly
through the gloom of an encircling forest
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A view of the Dargle, Co. Wicklow. James Arthur O'Connor (c.l 792-1841).
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Clonmacnoise, Co. Offaly. George P?trie (1790-1866).
Landscape with Temple. Jeremiah Hodges Mulcahy (d.1889).
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IRISH ARTS REVIEW
THE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS AT FOTA
Wildness, remoteness, loneliness, are
combined with awesome grandeur in
James Arthur O'Connor's mountainous
landscapes, inspired by the dark glens of Co. Wicklow. The threat of violence in
the weather in O'Connor's large canvas
is fulfilled in Francis Danby's seascape across the room. The Danby radiates an
eerie calm; the battered hulk of a ship is
grounded near the shore following a
storm, while a few miserable survivors
cling to the wreckage and watch the sun
setting across the tranquil sea to add,
with calculated venom, darkness to their distress.
The majesty of the Kerry mountains and the storms lashing the Western coast
provided plenty of inspiration for these Romantic painters, restless, adventurous
children of the Age of Byron. Before moving on to the Victorian
subject-painting, the visitor to Fota is shown the Watercolour Room, a
delightful little sitting-room, painted sunshine yellow.
Centrally placed among a bank of
pictures above a plain Irish eighteenth century side-table is Benson's perspective
of his design for Cork's railway station. The stately regularity of the colonnade, terminated by arched and pedimented pavilions and centred with a break-front, is reminiscent in style and character of
Sir Edward Lovett Pearce's Parliament House in Dublin.
The Cork painter Nathaniel Grogan is
represented at Fota by a view of Blarney Castle, here completely intact Seat of the Chief of the McCarthy Clan of
Muskerry, the Castle is seen beneath the central arch of a ruined classical bridge, now, alas, demolished without trace.
The bridge used to carry the main avenue over land which occasionally flooded, but here it spans nothing but
green grass; architecturally it is a play on curves with a central oval, upright ovals
carved on the flanking pillars, and semi circular arches beyond. The bridge must
have been a most attractive feature when
viewed from the Castle's windows. At the base of one of the pillars of the
bridge is a group of local people; two are
dancing a jig to the music of the uileann
pipes. What a mixture of Classical and Celtic Ireland!
A watercolour, painted in 1826,
equally evocative of the history of the land is Petrie's view of Clonmacnoise; this ancient seat of Celtic learning and
religious ritual fell into decay after Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and
expelled the monks. Despite the ruinous state of the Cathedral, Norman Castle and Round Tower (only the great High
Cross remains intact), the people of Ireland returned for centuries. In P?trie's
watercolour they seem to emerge from
the very graves, to continue their devo
tions, performing a pattern about the
sacred site. One woman stands on a
mound, silhouetted against the sky, her shawl flapping about her, like a keener at a funeral. The sun, sinking beneath the horizon beyond the river Shannon seems to symbolise the slow, agonising death of
Celtic Ireland.
Upstairs in the bedrooms the visitor comes to the Victorian subject paintings. Interest in pure landscape was at least
rivalled, if not absolutely vanquished, by the narrative picture which displayed and recorded simple customs or great events. Such a picture is Nicholas
Crowley's Guy Fawkes Eve which shows a group of children in a barn converted from a ruined abbey, dressing a straw
Guy, their eyes shining with delight and
anticipation.
Daniel Maclise, the Cork painter who was commissioned to decorate the
Palace of Westminster, is represented at
Fota by a hawking scene, colourful and
freshly painted. The hawkers are dressed in whimsical, pseudo-medieval costumes,
the sartorial equivalent of the pseudo medieval castles which were then so
fashionable. Their sport was medieval
too, though anything but pseudo. Finally, the drama of life and death at
sea is captured in two scenes, one by
Richard Beechey, naval officer who also was a splendid artist. His picture shows the ship of which he was Captain, being savaged by a storm in the Bay of Bengal.
The masts have snapped, the debris on
the deck is being swept over the side, and with it in the water is the body of an
unfortunate horse. The boiling frenzy of the wind and sea is captured with admirable economy by the future Vice
Admiral. The story goes that he and his crew were rescued, presumably when the
storm had died down, by a ship captain ed by a County Waterford man. Beechey painted this picture and presented it to
the Irish captain, in whose family it remained until recently.
Edwin Hayes was the best native Irish marine artist of the nineteenth century;
the splendid canvas of his at Fota is considered to be his greatest. A dramatic
sweep of clouds leads the eye to a tall man-o'-war which tilts on the swell in
the middle distance; in the foreground a
long-boat is tossed on the choppy waves,
its oars leading the eye into the picture. The sailors in the boat wear expressions of horror as they see the body of their
comrade, who has fallen overboard,
floating on the water only a few feet away from a life-belt which might have saved him. The narrative is brilliantly brought alive in these dramatic paintings.
The landscape collection in the house is fittingly completed by a group of water
colours which are seen in a corridor as
visitors leave the last room on their tour.
These are by Mildred Butler, trje distinguished Kilkenny lady who was the first female artist to have had a work pur chased by the T?te Gallery. She painted hundreds of works showing views of her
house, Kilmurray, its garden, farm, live stock and wildlife; they are filled with the atmosphere of a contented, undis
turbed, and beautiful way of life. A
painter of the open air, like her more
illustrious colleagues her obvious
pleasure in the painterly aspect of her
pictures anticipates the modern
movement; some of her works could be
confused with those of Osborne. Mildred Butler's animal and bird studies are acutely and lovingly observed; she
captured their characteristics of shape and movement, and suggested a glimpse of animal thought with an accuracy and
economy which is quite brilliant Equally Mildred Butler could convey the
atmosphere of a heavy summer after
noon with grey skies ? one can almost
hear the flies and insects buzzing angrily at the humidity, anticipating thunder, or the coolness of a distant wood seen across a field parched with the heat
No other painter captures so well the feel of that Anglo-Irish way of life, gracious, peaceful, close to nature; yet
the lack of human figures in the pictures indicates a certain isolation, remote
ness, introspection, and the yearning to
capture the spirit of the moment perhaps suggests a feeling that its passing might be permanent
Richard Wood
John Searle photographed the
paintings at Fota for IRISH ARTS REVIEW.
-53
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Coolmore, Co. Cork. Irish School
Italian landscape. Robert Carver (fL 1750-1791).
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The Dry Bridge at Blarney Castle. Nathaniel Grogan (ell40-1801).
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Summer Garden. Mildred Anne Butler (1858-1941).
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